Mega Millions jackpot nears top 10 all-time status at $625 million

Tonight's drawing could push Mega Millions into the record books.

News writer

Published Oct 17, 2025, 14:30 EDT

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $625 million for tonight's drawing. One more rollover and this prize enters the record books as a top 10 jackpot in the game's history.

The cash option sits at $288.8 million. Not bad for a Friday night.

How close is this to the top 10?

Pretty close. The current 10th-largest Mega Millions jackpot stands at $648 million, won back in December 2013. Tonight's prize trails by just $23 million. If no one wins and the jackpot rolls again, it climbs into the top 10. Simple math, big stakes.

This would mark the largest Mega Millions jackpot won in 2025 if someone claims it tonight. The biggest win so far this year was $349 million in Illinois back in March.

The drought continues

Tonight marks the 32nd drawing since someone last won the jackpot on June 27. A single ticket in Virginia claimed $348 million that night. Since July 1, the jackpot has been climbing steadily.

Three months without a winner. That's how you build a jackpot this size. Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium stated:

It's been more than three months since the last jackpot was won, and that's always exciting because it means a big, big jackpot. On Friday, someone has a chance to win $625 million, which is life-changing money.

Winners are still being made

The Tuesday drawing produced no jackpot winner, but it created plenty of millionaires. Two tickets matched all five white balls to win $2 million each—one in Arizona, one in Texas. Both had the multiplier option.

Fifteen tickets won the third-tier prize, ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the multiplier. In total, Tuesday's drawing generated 401,467 winning tickets worth more than $12.1 million.

During this jackpot run, more than 8.6 million tickets have won prizes totaling over $208.6 million across the country.

The biggest jackpots in Mega Millions history

Where does $625 million rank? It's currently the 11th largest in the game's history. The top spot belongs to a $1.6 billion jackpot won in Florida in August 2023. South Carolina holds second place with $1.54 billion from October 2018.

If tonight's jackpot rolls over, it will leap past the $648 million prize split between California and Georgia in 2013. That moves it into the top 10, joining an elite group of billion-dollar and near-billion-dollar prizes.